Walters Remains Popular Guy in Pits

By Mark McKenna

Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 24, 2004.

John Walters will be as inconspicuous as an unlimited hydroplane crew member can be this weekend in Lampson Pits.

He’ll spend much of his time on the deck of the U-8 Llumar Window Film with his head buried in the boat’s turbine, trying to squeeze as much speed out of the engine as possible.

But inevitably, some hard-core hydro fan will recognize him in his mechanic’s suit and spring the question: Hey, aren’t you the guy who ...?

“Yeah, that’s me,” Walters will answer. “I’m the guy who drove the Pak.”

Walters won only one race aboard the famous Pay ’n Pak turbine, but it was his qualifying run right here in the Tri-Cities that made him sort of an icon in the sport.

On July 27, 1980, Walters, then a 27-year-old unlimited rookie driver from Renton, took the Pak on a mid-morning test run in preparation for its first-ever race.

As the sleek boat took the corner and cruised toward the start clock at about 170 mph, its nose suddenly rose into the air. Walters fought the boat to no avail, and sat helplessly as it took off into a spectacular end-over-end flip. After 21⁄2 times around, the boat slammed into the water and shattered across the river.

“I remember thinking, ‘I can save this,’” Walters said. “But then the boat kept climbing and climbing. It was like someone kicked out a jack from underneath me. Then I saw the blue bridge disappear, then I saw the horizon and then the boat’s shadow on the river. Just like my famous quote — sky water, sky water. It seemed like the it took forever.

“I don’t remember hitting the water or coming out of the boat,” Walters continued. “But I do remember the water was cold, and I knew that I was supposed to raise my hands above my head if I was OK. When I did that, I remember a huge roar from the fans. I was hurting, but that made me feel great.” Walters dislocated his hip and shoulder and also suffered several cuts and bruises, but he considers himself lucky.

“When I saw tape of the flip, I realized it could have been much worse,” Walters said. “I still had all my arms and legs.”

It was soon determined that accident was caused by a faulty horizontal wing, which was damaged the previous day during a trailer fire.

The flip didn’t scare Walters out of the driver’s seat. In fact, he said from his hospital bed that he would resume racing.

Two years later, Walters finally brought the Pak home a winner as he outdueled Budweiser’s Dean Chenoweth in the final heat in Romulus, N.Y.

Walters’ good fortune didn’t last long, however. Later in the 1982 season, he was involved in a collision with the Squire Shop, driven by Tom D’Eath, and George Johnson’s Executone at the Emerald Cup in Seattle that forced him to leave the sport for good.

Walters suffered multiple fractures and head injuries, and doctors told his wife, Arlene, that the outlook was grim.

“Doctors said I would probably lose the sight in my left eye, that they might have to amputate my right arm below the elbow and that I might lose my left leg. It was pretty bleak.”

Walters recovered much better than expected, thanks to 14 months in Harborview Medical Center and 11 surgeries. Still, he lives with constant pain.

“I hurt every day,” Walters said. “I still have problems with my hip and back. But I’m active, and sometimes I even overdo it, usually when I’m running and jumping around with my grandkids.”

After the Seattle crash, Walters continued to stay close to the sport. He worked on Fran Muncey’s Miller American, Bill Wurster’s Mr. Pringles, and he was the crew chief for Bob Fendler and Jerry Rise’s Appian Jeronimo in the mid-1990s before reuniting with Wurster on the U-8 team.

Walters, 51, who now lives in Issaquah, juggles hydroplane racing with his full-time position at Three Five Systems, Inc., an electronic manufacturing company in Redmond.

“I’ve got a great situation. I have a good job and I still get to tinker with hydroplanes,” Walters said. And despite that ominous summer day in 1980, Walters enjoys coming back to the Columbia Cup.

“The Tri-Cities is a wonderful place to race,” he said. “The course is fast and the race committee is so committed to putting on a great race. And the fans really know the sport.”

Which is why Walters expects to hear from several fans who want to talk about THE FLIP.

“It’s amazing the number of people who I run across that say, ‘Geez, I was there on the beach when you flipped the Pak,’” Walters said. “But I don’t mind. There were a lot of people who shared the experience that day, and it’s kind of fun to talk about.”

Pak Owner Stayed on Cutting Edge of Boat Racing

By Mark McKenna
Reprinted from the Tri-City Herald, July 14, 2004.

Legendary hydroplane owner Bernie Little loved nothing more than to command his Miss Budweiser to hit the water and sink the competition.

During his 40-year career as the Bud boss, which began in 1963 and ended with his death in 2003, Little's boats won 134 races, 14 Gold Cups and 22 World High Points Championships.

While there's no question Little is the godfather of the sport, there's also little doubt who his greatest nemesis was during the mid-1970s. That distinction belonged to Dave Heerensperger, the proud owner of the Pay 'n Pak.

Heerensperger's boats, named after his hardware stores, won three consecutive national championships from 1973-75. Mickey Remund drove the Pak to the 1973 title before George Henley took the seat in 1974 and 1975. The Pak also won the Gold Cup in '74 (Seattle) and '75 (Tri-Cities), and it would have won the big race in '73 had it not lost a propeller while leading the final lap of the championship heat.

"Bernie and I were great friends -- he was the best man in my wedding," Heerensperger said. "But I loved to kick the Budweiser's fanny."

The Pak, decked out in white with orange lettering trimmed in black, was made of honeycomb aluminum and nicknamed the "Winged Wonder" because of its horizontal stabilizer. It was designed and constructed by Ron Jones, and Jim Lucero served as its crew chief.

"I think we turned hydroplane racing on its ear with that boat," Heerensperger said. "We had a great crew, a great driver ... everything came together perfectly."

Heerensperger sold the boat to Bill Muncey in 1976, and Muncey kept its successful voyages going by winning another national title as the Atlas Van Lines.

But Heerensperger wasn't out of the sport long. In 1979, Lucero approached him about building a turbine-powered boat, and the gung-ho Heerensperger signed on.

The turbine Pak made its debut at the Tri-Cities race in 1980 despite the fact it wasn't quite "dialed in." That was obvious during a last-minute test session the morning of the race when the boat sailed into the air at 160 mph, made nearly two complete flips and splashed into the Columbia. Driver John Walters, then a 27-year-old rookie, suffered a broken hip and several lesser injuries.

"Oh s---- was my reaction," Heerensperger said. "All I was worried about was John's safety."
The turbine was repaired in time for the 1981 season and finished second in the Gold Cup in Seattle. In 1982, it became the first turbine to win a race when Walters out dueled the Budweiser to win in Romulus, N.Y. It would be the boat's only victory.

"Maybe we were a little ahead of our time, but I think the big problem with the turbine was that we rushed it," Heerensperger said. Heerensperger decided to leave the sport for good in 1982 and sold his team to Steve Woomer.

"I had enough. I won my Gold Cups and national championships, and I couldn't stand watching my drivers get hurt any more," he said.

Heerensperger, who know lives in Bellevue, was drawn into the sport in 1962 while living in Spokane, where he ran his business, Eagle Electric and Plumbing.

While reading the Spokane Chronicle one day, he came across an invitation to join the Miss Spokane team.

"They were looking for someone to invest $5,000, and I was dumb enough to do it," Heerensperger joked.

Heerensperger sponsored the boat, owned by Bob Gilliam, and ran it under the name Miss Eagle Electric and Plumbing for the 1963-64 seasons.

Heerensperger then became a boat owner, purchasing $-Bill in 1967 and renaming it the Miss Eagle Electric. In 1968, the hydro, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagle," won the Atomic Cup in the Tri-Cities.

"The Tri-Cities was always my favorite race," Heerensperger said. "The people who ran it were efficient and friendly. The course was fast, and the fans were right on top of the water."

The 1968 season, however, would end tragically for Heerensperger's race team. During the final heat of the Gold Cup in Detroit, which was postponed until September, Miss Eagle Electric's driver, Col. Warner Gardner, was killed when the boat rolled and crashed into the water upside down.

Heerensperger decided to keep racing, and in 1969 introduced the outrigger hydroplane -- the Pride of Pay 'n Pak -- after purchasing the chain of Northwest stores. This new radical hydro had gaps between the center hull and sponsons, designed to reduce lift. The boat was difficult to handle and after only five races, the last in the Tri-Cities, was retired.

"It was a real bow wow, a real dog," Heerensperger said.

Heerensperger, always the innovator, built a new boat powered by two Hemi engines for the 1970 season. But after the boat failed to live up to expectations, driver Tommy Fults jumped in the second Pride of Pay 'n Pak -- a hull bought at the end of the 1969 season and renamed Pay 'n Pak's 'lil Buzzard -- and won the 1970 Atomic Cup.

But Heerensperger couldn't escape his bad luck. Fults was killed during qualifying for the Gold Cup in San Diego.

Heerensperger then hired Lucero, who reconfigured the automotive boat and installed it with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. The boat won three races in 1971 and another in 1972.

Heerensperger, who also founded Eagle Hardware and Garden, Inc. before selling it to Lowe's in 1999, said he doesn't miss hydroplane racing. He became involved in horse racing in 1980 and has owned as many as 50 horses at one time. His best ever was Millennium Wind, the winner of the 2001 Blue Grass Stakes who went on to finish 11th in the Kentucky Derby.

However, he still looks back fondly on his hydroplane career and has a special place in his heart for the Tri-Cities race.

"I have all my hydroplane trophies and about 250 softball trophies in storage, but the only one I have in my house is from the 1968 Atomic Cup. It's a beauty."